Animal Behavior Learns about Schooling of Fish

Guest Post by Carley Kukk ’19

This week in Animal behavior we researched the tendency of fish to school. Certain fish school, such as Silver Tail Rasboras, in order to protect themselves against predators. They truly embrace the idea of strength in numbers. In contrast, other fish, like red wag platys, do not school because their slow-moving bodies would not benefit from swimming in groups if a predator came along.

For our lab, Dr. Bailey asked us to come up with a procedure that could identify schooling in fish. My group and I decided to insert a piece of plastic with a hole into a tank with two different amounts of fish on each side. We would time how long it takes for all of the fish to reunite (or swim through the hole and form a school). Our fish, the red wag platys, are non-schoolers, so they didn’t mind the separation from their peers or didn’t reunite.

Red Wag Platys

Silver Tail Rasboras

After we completed our own procedure, Dr. Bailey gave us her own version to test. We drew lines on the outside of the glass fish tank indicating sections 1-4. We separated all of the fish except one into a separate bowl next the side of the tank with a barrier so they couldn’t see the lone fish. After 3 minutes of allowing the lone fish to relax after his separation, we removed the barrier and tracked which section the lone fish remained in. If he was in section 1, closest to the other fish, for the entire 10 minutes, schooling occurred. Yet the red wag platys distributed themselves evenly across the sections, indicating no sign of schooling.

Animal Behavior Learns About Foraging and Territoriality

Guest Post by Carley Kukk ’19

The last two weeks of animal behavior have been pretty busy with learning about foraging behaviors and territoriality. To explore foraging behaviors, we utilized an abundant resource on campus: squirrels!

We set up a station next to multiple trees around campus with 4 piles of peanuts. Two piles were 2m from the tree while the others were 6m. One pile at a certain distance had unshelled peanuts and the other shelled. During our double block, we observed squirrel activity. Although we weren’t so lucky in sighting any squirrels (weird, right?), we learned the typical trend for this activity. Unshelled peanuts closer to the tree are a more popular choice because unshelled peanuts require less handling time (aka: less energy) and they are closer to a tree where a squirrel is safe from predators.

In another experiment performed this previous week, we tested the theory that residents are more likely to dominate intruders in a battle over territory. We placed a crayfish (who is extremely territorial) in a tank overnight to establish it’s dominance over the territory.

The next morning we added an intruder crayfish: one larger and one of the same size. The resident crayfish usually dominated an intruder of the same size, yet was defeated by an intruder of a larger size.

Animal Behavior Continues Working with Chicks

Guest Post by Carley Kukk ’19

During our last week with the chicks, we focused on teaching them how to get through a maze using associative learning. We constructed a simple Y maze with leftover shoeboxes and placed a small pile of food at the end.

The food acted as a positive reinforcement if the chicks successfully completed the maze. Hopefully, they would later associate the correct end of the maze with the food.

In our experiment, we used 2 chicks to strengthen our data. Each chick surprisingly ran their fastest time through the maze on their first try. This was probably a fluke as later proved in the data where the chicks always explored the other end of the maze before completing it.

Eventually it took around 30 seconds each to complete the maze. There were in total around 7 trials for each chick. They finally began to associate the ending with food and ultimately learned through operate conditioning the correct way to complete our y-maze.

Guest Post by Carley Kukk ’19

Last week in my Animal Behavior class, we set out to imprint newly-born chicks. The chicks spent 2 nights with each student whether that be in our dorms or houses. Since chicks are attracted to movement and the color red, we tied a red bandana around our ankles once the chicks were adjusted to the sound of our voices. I tried to spend as much time as I could with my chick, Carter, so I held him while doing homework or in any possible moment.

Chicks can imprint on something else after 4 hours, so it is crucial during the initial 32 hours to spend time working with them. I set up an obstacle course around my dorm room and had him jump over pillows and pens while following me. The harder the obstacle course, the stronger imprint because the chick will be focusing on you more. It was hard not to accidentally step on him! You would be surprised how fast their tiny legs can move.

At the end of the two days, Dr. Bailey held a class-wide relay race to determine the chick with the strongest imprint. My chick may have won with a time of 11 seconds… (humble brag).

Ultimately over the course of the 2 days, I was able to learn first hand about filial imprinting. I even made a new friend… 🙂

Another Year, Another Great Set of Blog Posts!

Welcome back to Andover! I am sure for a lot of you, it has been a great summer, but it is time to get back into the swing of things!

We have a lot of great things planned for you this year! Be sure to check out one (or more!) of our amazing Science classes this year!

If you are enjoying your Science class or have a Science-related independent project and would like to write one (or more!) blog post – let Ms. Andersen know at randersen@andover.edu! It can even count as your work duty… (!!!!!)

Get to know the retiring Science Faculty with this week’s Mornings with MAC!

Guest Post by Michael Codrington ’18

Ladies and gentlemen, you must’ve had a lonely Wednesday morning last week without Mornings with MAC and I apologize for that. However, we have an exciting retiring faculty Morning with MAC. I was able to interview 3 Andover greats, Dr. Stern, Mr. Cone and Dr. Watt. With a combined 96 total years of teaching (16+51+29), it’s safe to say they’re veterans of PA. First up is Dr. Stern. Stern taught me for a total of 5.5 weeks when I thought that Chemistry 300 was the way to go. 300 had other plans… So, I eventually dropped down to 250. But, I will always remember Stern for his Charisma and willingness to help.

MC: What do you teach at Andover?
DS: Chemistry 250, 300, 550, and IPs. It’s been varied, but I enjoy it.

MC: How long have you been working at Andover?
DS: I’ve been here for 16 years. Day 1 was a very famous day – 9/11/2001.

MC: Really?
DS: Absolutely, it was my first day at Andover, ever teaching in a high school. I taught very briefly in a Bronx high school for a couple of months, but that was temporary. The all school meeting was on that first day of class. It was a beautiful Tuesday. The seniors were yelling 02, 02, 02!

MC: What brought you here?
DS: Before I was at Andover, I was selling high quality chemistry instruments, Spectrometers. It was about a 20,000 dollar instrument and I sold to Temba Macabela. He taught the organic chemistry class and organic chemists love this thing called Infrared Spectrometers.

MC: Where did you go to college? What did you study?
DS: I went to Lafayette College in Pennsylvania and got a bachelor of science degree. I could’ve gotten a bachelor of arts and taken different courses, more english and history courses. But the bachelor of science degree meant I had to take more physics and chemistry. It was very rigorous. Then I went to grad school and got a PhD in Analytical Chemistry.

MC: What is your favorite thing about Andover?
DS: The energy of the students. Every September, I would see new faces and new students and meeting them the first couple of weeks, slowly learning names and 9th grade boys soccer. Haha, That was a fun experience.

MC: If you weren’t studying/teaching chemistry, what other discipline would you be in?
DS: Probably math. I love math, I love plane geometry. I could teach you some algebra, not like these Phillips guys, but I know a decent amount. I loved how it was a puzzle. You figure it out with all your information. It’s great.

MC: What’s your favorite movie?
DS: I’ve got a lot of favorites, you wouldn’t know ’em though, so I love “Casablanca”. “Saturday Night Fever”, took place in Brooklyn about the New York scene. I love the James Bond movies of course. “12 Angry Men”, took place in the Bronx, about a big court case and really shows the prejudices from the time and that are still there in the Bronx. I don’t know I could watch a movie yesterday and forget the name.

MC: Do you consider yourself an easy or hard teacher?
DS: Grade-wise I’m fair but hard. I could use a pun, I’m very stern…
MC: …
DS and MC: Hahahaha!
DS: But yeah, I grade a little difficult, but I understand that I’m teaching high school kids college chemistry and it blows my mind when I see one of them in a theater production or something like that.

MC: What’s one thing that a lot of people don’t know about you?
DS: They don’t know that I love to dance and rock and roll and that my favorite rock and roll band is The Stones.

Next on the roster is Mr. Cone. Cone boasts 51 total years of Andover teaching experience, having been able to both teach and teach alongside many Andover alums like Ms. Elliott ‘94, Mr. Ventre ‘71, and fellow science teacher Mr. Faulk ‘00.

MC: How long have you been working at Andover and what do you teach?
TC: I’ve been here 51 years.

MC: Wow, that’s a really long time.
TC: Hahaha! I’ve taught first year Biology for many years, the name keeps changing. I’ve taught AP level Bio, I’ve taught Biology 500. I’ve taught term-contained courses. The last 20 plus years I’ve taught term contained courses for seniors, mostly. Animal Behavior in the fall, Microbiology in the winter and Ornithology in the spring.

MC: What brought you here?
TC: Well, I was overseas in the Peace Corps and my father was retiring from the Navy, he was a doctor at Harvard, and since I was coming back from the Corps, I wanted to live somewhere in New England and I applied to teach at a bunch of these New England Preparatory Schools.

MC: Where did you go to college? What did you study?
TC: I went to Trinity College in Hartford and I majored in Biology and minored in Education.

MC: What is your favorite thing about Andover?
TC: Wonderful student body. It’s always exciting, active, interesting students. Science faculty has always been superb. A beauty of a school like this is you have a number of teachers in the same department.

MC: If you weren’t studying/teaching biology, what other discipline would you be in?
TC: I enjoy history a lot, I think it would probably be the history department.

MC: What’s your favorite movie?
TC: Uh.. a recent movie or?

MC: It’s up to you I don’t really know, haha!
TC: My favorite movie when I was a kid growing up was “High Noon” with Gary Cooper – 1951. Also loved “African Queen” with Humphrey Bogart.

MC: Do you consider yourself an easy or hard teacher?
TC: I’d say somewhere in the middle. Students do what I ask them to do and they’ll do well. If they take good notes they should be fine. I want them to do well, that’s the point of a teacher. It’s like being a coach. When my students took APs, I wish I was in there with ’em, I mean I obviously couldn’t be, but I wish I could.

MC: What’s one thing that a lot of people don’t know about you?
TC: Don’t know about me? When you say a lot of people you mean like you or like…

MC: Yeah, I mean uhh.. Like.. I don’t know…
TC: Hahaha, it’s ok. Well in class, we joked about having animals and I had a black mamba as a pet. There was this long black snake in Liberia that was my favorite.

MC: That’s insane.
TC: It was a party, haha!

MC: Thank you, Mr. Cone it was great to meet you.
TC: You too, have a good one.

Last on the roster is Dr. Watt. I learn physics in the classroom next to Watt everyday during 4th period, but I have never really met him before. I immediately regretted that because he is hilarious. I sat down with Watt in his office at Gelb 222.

MC: How long have you been working at Andover and what do you teach?
DW: Physics and Geology. 29 years, which is nothing compared to Mr. Cone.

MC: Where did you go to college? What did you study? What brought you to Andover?
DW: I went to college in a place called Dalhousie in Canada, I got my bachelors and masters in Physics. I got my PhD at Harvard. Then I was a research fellow at the University of Colorado for a year then I was a research fellow at the seismological lab at CalTech for a year. I was trying to raise research funds for graduate students and it was hard for me to raise money and do science, so I decided why not come to some place with great teachers and great students.

MC: What is your favorite thing about Andover?
DW: The enthusiasm of the students.

MC: Favorite song?
DW: Nothing. Oh dear, I’ve got nothing, next one.

MC: If you weren’t studying/teaching biology, what other discipline would you be in?
DW: Likely Mathematics.

MC: What’s your favorite movie?
DW: Harold and Maude

MC: Do you consider yourself an easy or hard teacher?
DW: Yes

MC: Hahaha! What?
DW: Haha! I try to cover the material, but I also try and be sympathetic of the students because I know they have a lot going on and it’s hard so I’d have to say I’m reasonable.

MC: What’s one thing that a lot of people don’t know about you?
DW: I’m from Canada.

That concludes Mornings with MAC for the 2016-2017 academic year. It’s been real and you can look out for a new edition coming in the fall of 2017. Have a great summer!

A Rabbit Pond Exploration

Guest Post by Sabrina Appleby ’17

Last week in my Ornithology class, Mr. Cone split us up into groups and sent us on different missions. My groups’ task was to venture down to Rabbit Pond and record the number and condition of birds that are occupying the bird houses set up around the pond. These “houses” are similar to your typical bird house, and there are eight of them surrounding the pond. Ironically, I never noticed them until that day!

We had a spread sheet that asked whether or not there was a nest in each of the eight houses, if there were eggs present, and what kind of nest it was. Out of the eight that my group checked, we found four nests, one of which contained four small eggs. Every nest we found was a house wren’s. Very easy to identify, these nests are made up almost entirely of sticks.

Unfortunately, we did not actually see any house wrens in the area, but here is a picture for reference.

During our adventure, we had the great fortune to see three sets of parents and their baby geese wandering around the outskirts of the pond. Now I know these little ones are famous by now in the Science Department, but I felt it was worth mentioning again. The baby geese, just like we learn, followed their respective mothers’ every move. Despite geese’s typically friendly nature, these mothers were especially defensive. With each step that we took toward the family, the mother was quick to hiss back at us. Needless to say, we kept our distance!

In addition to our adventure down to Rabbit Pond, my class had the opportunity to see one of Audubon’s Birds of America copy in the Addison. Known as his “double elephant pholios,” Audubon’s giant prints were incredible! This massive book contains hundreds of birds, reproduced from his original work by the use of a copper plate and a printing press. Did you know this book, which is worth a lot of money, was once on display in the library? Good thing the Addison decided to take it in, as many of the edges of the book had been damaged by students. Pictured below is one of Mr. Cone’s favorite Audubon prints:

Here comes the hard part. Given this is my last post of the term, I wanted to thank all of my readers for following my journey through this class. It’s been a lot of fun to write for the PA Natural Sciences blog and learn more and more about birds. I want to give a special thank you to Mr. Cone for teaching such a great class. You will be missed at Andover, but we are excited to see your next adventure. Happy last week of class, and happy summer! ❤

Ornithology takes a look at different birds nests this week!

Guest Post by Sabrina Appleby ’17

Last week in Ornithology class, we spent the double period inspecting the nests of a variety of American birds. When I walked into class, I thought that these nests were all going to look and seem the exact same. I could not have been more wrong. Each nest was so intricately made and contained a multitude of different materials. Amongst the many materials, the most frequently seen ones were grass, sticks, spider webs, feathers, mud, and moss. Here are a few that stuck out to me:

1. Robin’s Nest
Created with mud and sticks, a robin’s nest is perfectly circular. Mr. Cone told us that the materials are gathered by the male robin and the female makes the nest. She uses her body to sculpt the nest in a way that provides the circular shape.

2. House Sparrow Nest
This nest is pretty gross. These lovely birds essentially gather up a bunch of grass, trash, and feathers and blend it all together in a messy heap of stuff. At least it’s an easy nest to identify?

3. Downy Woodpecker
This one’s pretty straightforward – just some bark and holes.

4. Speke’s Weaver Bird
Made of almost entirely of grass, the nest situates similarly to a bee’s nest – circular, sometimes hollow inside, and suspending from a tree. Often times, this bird hangs upside down from the nest, clinging on by its feet.

These are just a few of the 20 nests that we looked at last week. In addition to learning more about the homes of these curious creatures, I also learned that Andover has wonderful resources to research birds and their habitats. Sometimes we take for granted all that PA has to offer. I encourage my readers to check out the casing on the first floor of Gelb that holds a variety of birds. Even if you take just a moment, you will see some pretty cool bird features up close and personal.

As always, thanks for listening. Check back next week for my take on John James Audubon – our next topic of the term.

Get to know your Science Faculty with your weekly installment of Mornings with MAC!

Guest Post by Michael Codrington ’18

Welcome to yet another great installment of Mornings with MAC! This week, amidst AP season, I was able to sit and chat with Biology teacher Willa Abel. Ms. Abel is an instructor in biology and a movie extraordinaire (but more on that later 🙂 ). I talked with Ms. Abel right after her 6th period class and she has the pleasure of being the first person that I’ve interviewed that I had not personally met before.

MC: What do you teach at Andover?
WA: I’ve taught 3 courses in my time here. I teach primarily Bio 100 but I’ve taught Bio 500 and I’m teaching a senior elective right now.

MC: How long have you been working at Andover?
WA: This is my fifth year.

MC: Where did you go to College? What did you study?
WA: I went to Williams College as an undergrad and studied biology.

MC: What is your favorite thing about Andover?
WA: Ohhh, hm, I think the overwhelming sense of community, and well, for a lot of us we feel ambivalent about it sometimes it’s too intimate with students and teachers but it’s a fairly unique situation and we have fairly fantastic students. Sometimes we forget how abnormal we are, in a good way.

MC: If you weren’t studying/teaching biology, what other discipline would you be in?
WA: I am an amateurish writer, so I fantasize about writing a book. I love languages, and I speak German, so I fantasize about taking a sabbatical to teach German. History as well, there’s many topics that I can be excited about teaching like global topics and colonialism. I can imagine teaching a course like that… if someone would let me!

MC: What’s your favorite movie?
WA: ….

MC: ….
WA: hm?

MC: …
WA: Sorry, I haven’t seen many recently you’ll have to come back to me – Hahaha!

MC: It’s ok. What’s your favorite song out?
WA: I think it would have to… um… this may sound a little bit cliche, but I like Bob Dylan’s, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Alright”, it’s been one of my favorite songs for a while. Also, Dire Straits’ “Romeo and Juliet” is easily one of my favorites.

MC: Do you consider yourself an easy or hard teacher?
WA: I guess you’ll have to ask my students, but I like to think that I am demanding in terms of I have a good number of assignment that people have to keep up with daily and there’s a good volume of work, I’m not particularly flexible. I try to make the tests a reflection of all of the incremental work they’ve been doing in the class. So, I don’t consider myself a particularly hard grader, but you’ll have to ask my students.

MC: What’s one thing that a lot of people don’t know about you?
WA: My international background. Before coming to Andover, I’ve lived in a lot of countries and taught in a lot of places. It’s very different than Andover. My previous lifestyle was very internationally involved and that would separate me from your typical teacher.

MC: Ok, here we go again…
WA: Oh, no.

MC: What’s your favorite movie?
WA: It’s a movie that I watch over and over again but it’s a bit of a chick flick, so I won’t confess it. I love Victorian novels and their movie adaptations, so Jane Austen, George Eliot, that type of stuff. *Pulls out Laptop* I’m just gonna IMDB search real quick. I do actually like a lot of movies, I swear. Just oneee second. I would say, “To Kill a Mockingbird” might be my favorite. It’s hard I do have a lot of favorites I’m so sorry.

MC: It’s more than ok, thank you so much!
WA: Have a good one thank you!

For suggestions for further Mornings with MAC, or other inquires, email me at mcodrington@andover.edu!

Mr. Cone’s Ornithology Class Ventures to Holt Hill

Guest Post by Sabrina Appleby ’17

This week in Mr. Cone’s Ornithology class, we took a trip over to Holt Hill! Believe it or not, it was my first time experiencing the beautiful views of the Boston skyline and the blossoming apple trees.

On our way up the hill, Mr. Cone, already on the look-out, spotted a female and male bluebird. By the time he pointed out the male bluebird, it had taken off! But the female stayed behind for a couple minutes. She was had beautiful light blue back, not quite as vibrant as the males usually are, with an orange tint on her underbelly. She was enjoying the beautiful spring sunshine. My picture doesn’t do her colors justice, but you can see her peaceful perch on the tree branch.

Not far from the bluebird, we spotted two cowbirds, a male and female, perched on another tree. They were calm, but playful, as they interacted with one another up and down the branch. Once the female took off, the male did not hesitate to follow her. I tried to get a picture, but they were too active to get a good shot!

When we finally made our way toward the open field, my class all stopped in their tracks to admire the views. It was truly amazing, especially given that we were there for a class (thanks Mr. Cone!). Immediately, we could hear birds singing everywhere, and Mr. Cone was quick to call attention to two turkey vultures flying overhead. Over in one of the apples trees, in the midst of white flowers appeared a Baltimore oriole. It’s bright orange colors were hard to miss. If you look closely at the picture I took through my “binocs,” you can see a little speck of orange surrounded by the white flowers.

Considering this spell of gloomy weather, we were lucky to get outside on Thursday and enjoy the sunshine. It truly was beautiful. Each time I go outside, I am more and more keen to the birds around me. The moments when I either see or hear a bird and can identify it are the most rewarding for me. It is nice to know that I can keep this knowledge with me wherever I go! Until next time! 🙂